


1943 (On Hiatus)

by purpleeyestelllies



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BDSM, Both our boys need a lot of therapy, Dom/sub, F/M, Fluff, Gay, Gay Sex, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, NSFW, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Save Bucky, Sex, Smut, The Avengers - Freeform, The New Avengers - Freeform, The husbands do naughty things to each other, Things are not what they seem, Time Travel, but that's not what this is about, this is an action fic, we'll see how it goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-05-25 20:54:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 20,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14985392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleeyestelllies/pseuds/purpleeyestelllies
Summary: It's 2043. Steve and Bucky are married. They've got a new team. Life is good...until they get sent back in time and are forced to face their pasts all over again. But why?*Story currently on hiatus





	1. 2043

**Author's Note:**

> I'm delving further into this fandom slowly but surely. The concept for this might turn out to be very unpopular. You'll know whether you want to read this after the first chapter, but I advise you to hold out because I think the story will be really good. 
> 
> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky have a day off- or, well, about half a morning.

The room was quiet. Early morning sun filtered through the curtains on the 42nd floor of Avengers tower. Steve had kicked the sheets to their feet in the night, like he always did in the summer. It was something Bucky never got used to. Steve used to be perpetually cold, no matter how hot it was outside, but now, in this time, Steve always ran hot. High metabolism or something, according to Bruce. 

Bucky turned onto his side and saddled up to Steve's back for warmth, swinging the newest version of his prosthetic arm across the other man. He was the opposite. He used to be Steve's private furnace when he just couldn't get warm, but ever since- ever since Hydra, dammit. He could say it after all these years- he was constantly cold. He figured it was mostly psychosomatic but it didn't change facts. On the bright side, now Steve was his private furnace. 

Steve hummed when Bucky's cold skin melded to his and dropped his shoulder to look back at him. "Hey," he rasped in that morning voice that always made Bucky shiver. 

"Morning," he whispered and kissed the greeting into Steve's shoulder. Steve turned over to face him and buried his head in Bucky's neck, ever the cuddler. The dark-haired man just lifted his chin to allow room and wrapped an arm around Steve's waist. Steve glanced down and trickled his fingers over the smooth finish of the skin-like material on the arm Stark and Shuri worked on together. "How's it feeling?"

"Still getting used to it. It's more sensitive than the ones before."

Steve smirked. "Good for some things." 

Bucky rolled his eyes and pinched the top of the curve of Steve's ass, making the blond grunt. "What do you want to do today?" he asked, not fond of the attention.

A huff of air hit Bucky's collar bone and Steve burrowed closer. "Nothing. I'm not leaving this bed, and neither are you." He gripped Bucky's hip as a warning. "We haven't had a day off in months; I'm tired."

Bucky was, too. The whole team was. They had only been a full roster for about five years now, and learning to work as a team was exhausting. They'd all known each other for much longer, but spending every waking moment together was something Bucky never thought he could do with anyone but Steve. 

Wanda had been the one to suggest they rebuild the Avengers after Tony, Bruce, Natasha and Clint retired- one after the other in devastatingly quick succession twenty years ago, but no one was ready back then. Tony couldn't take the toll on his body, Bruce couldn't take the toll on his mind, Natasha couldn't take the toll on her future and Clint couldn't take the toll on his family. So the Avengers broke up. Like a band. Like The Beatles. 

Tony and Pepper still lived in Avengers Tower, retired, with their two kids, one of whom now ran Stark Industries. Bruce and Natasha left in the middle of the night without telling anyone and disappeared without a trace. And this time, they meant it. The newly rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D., under director Hill's supervision, had tried to track them for months, but after too long of not hearing a peep, they gave up. They didn't want to be found. Clint moved with his wife, kids, and grandkids to a place in Greece, right on the beach, and started a farm. He keeps in contact, but they haven't seen his face in ten years. 

Wanda suggested a rebooted Avengers again five years ago, and Steve left town for two weeks. When he came back, he had it all figured out. It wasn't like they held auditions. They'd just taken the heroes they trusted most and told them they were now required to come to training sessions and granted them each a permanent room in the tower. 

Vision came easily because of Wanda. She'd figured out how to use her powers to slow her aging, so they'd been working towards something long, long term for a while. And he already lived in the tower. If by lived, that meant wandering around at night after Wanda fell asleep and rearranging Tony's lab equipment. Plus, he was already being used for the odd mission, so for him not much had changed. 

Peter was supposed to be an easy yes considering he was an Avenger before they disbanded, but since the split he'd started focused on using his smarts to help the world. He'd made quite a name for himself in the fields of environmental chemistry and computer engineering, and he wasn't ready to give that up. He'd created a system of interconnected subterranean beacons that could detect weather patterns, farming patterns, possible irrigation problems, and had funded a non-profit that would extend help to areas and people that were about to have those problems and didn't even know it, stopping them before they ever happened. It won him a Noble Prize by the age of thirty-five. 

He and MJ had three kids- all wicked smart, which was a huge reason he didn't want to give up on his work. He didn't want his kids to think that they didn't need to be in school, get good grades, and go to college if daddy was making it just fine being Spider-man. It was MJ who convinced him; she reminded him of that kid that used to say that if you could do something and didn't, then you were in the wrong. 

Shuri had been the Wakandan ambassador to the UN for seven years when they asked her to join. She had brought their technology to under-developed countries throughout Africa and South America. Her latest venture was to alleviate the south-east Asian countries of their woes. It kept her from saying yes until Peter went to Wakanda himself to talk to her. He promised that if she joined the team, he would partner with her to help whomever she wanted. With a name like the New Avengers backing up the promise, she finally agreed. 

Their first mission together was a bust. Public damage in the tens of millions and the bad guy got away. They'd come back to the tower and silently sulked in the lounge until Tony came sauntering in and hit Steve upside the head. "So what? Boo-hoo. One loss. Jesus, you guys act like I took your puppy. Well, I didn't; Peter's right there." Then he'd ducked and left before the pillow Peter threw be accompanied by another. 

They learned from the loss so much more than they could have from a win. They started training together, eating together, trusting each other. Like a team. Now, they were a force to be reckoned with, and had been dubbed by the public the New Avengers. 

It was the first team Bucky had a chance to be a part of. He was too messed up to be a part of the first Avengers full time, almost made Steve quit a few times it got so bad. But that was so long ago. Now, Bucky was sore from a long successful mission abroad, wrapped around his husband, and about to enjoy a long day of doing noth-

"Pardon the interruption," FRIDAY broke the quiet. "The team is urgently needed in the strategy room."

Well, so much for a day off.


	2. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky have a fight about the war, only to have the war hit home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first venture to the time before. I genuinely LOVE pre-shitstorm Stucky. I love the 40s. I love the history, the fashion, the speech. Maybe I should write a separate piece just pre-serum Stucky.

War propaganda was everywhere. Cartoonish pictures of Hitler burning down the Statue of Liberty. Uncle Sam gathering up all the different races of Americans in his arms and pointing them towards enlistment offices. Bucky hated war. He hated that differences like race and money could lead people to killing each other. It didn't make sense to him, but he wasn't about to pretend that what the Japs did at Pearl Harbor was okay. 

He'd registered for the draft months ago and gone through training, but he hadn't heard back. Maybe he'd never get called up. Maybe he'd never have to leave Steve to go kill people he'd never seen do him harm. Steve. Steve was all worked up over the bombing. He didn't like bullies, whoever they were. He'd gone to three different offices that Bucky knew of, and probably another half dozen he didn't, but God bless America, no one had taken him. The kid would never survive out there. Tough as nails might get you by in Brooklyn, but in war- 

Bucky couldn't think about it. He already had a hard enough time keeping his feelings for Steve deep down inside, but when he thought about going off to war, leaving him behind and maybe never coming back- well, damn; he could almost pick Steve's scrawny shell of a body up in his arms and kiss him until he forgot there was a war on. 

"Buck?" Bucky's head shot up off the back of the couch to look over at Steve. The smaller lad had his legs draped over Bucky's thighs and was needling him with a boney heel to get his attention. "Did you hear me?"

"Nah, sorry, Stevie. Say again?"

"We won in Africa. Turned Germany back."

Bucky wrapped a hand around Steve's ankle, momentarily jarred by how small it looked in his grasp before massaging it gently. "That's something."

"That's more than something, Buck!" Steve urged. He slid forward on the couch until his feet were flat on one side of Bucky's thighs and his butt was pressed against the other side. "That bastard Hitler and those Japs will pay for what they did. Soon Britain will-"

"Hey," Bucky cut him off with a hand on his knee. "Can we not talk about it right now? It's our only day off in months, and I really don't want to talk about the war."

Steve squared his shoulders. "This is important, Bucky. The whole world is fighting evil right now, and I'm sitting here on my ass reading about it!"

Bucky hated when Steve talked like that. Like he'd throw himself on a grenade given the chance. His grip on Steve's knee tightened to the point he knew it had to hurt, but Steve didn't flinch. Always so fucking tough. "You're the lucky one," Bucky seethed. "Don't you think every mom and wife in the country wished their boy was back home right now!"

Steve pushed Bucky's hand away and stood up, finally flinching at the cold floor on his bare feet. "At least they're doing something about it. Bad things are happening whether we fight or not, people are dying whether we are or not. I'm a coward for not being out there and doing my part!"

Bucky scooted forward to the edge of the couch at those words, but didn't stand. Didn't want to add fuel to Steve's flame. "Don't say that. Don't you say that, you hear me?"

"Or what? You're not my ma, Bucky. I'm not your dame. I don't need you to protect me!" Steve stomped towards the door, shoved his feet in his boots without socks, grabbed his jacket and was gone before Bucky could register what had happened. 

Dammit. God dammit. Steve was going to get blisters without socks on. Bucky tried to rub the headache out of his temples as he lumbered across the room to their bed. He slipped on his socks from yesterday and grabbed the only clean pair in the basket for Steve. He'd just plucked his jacket from the hook on the wall when there was a knock at the door. Bucky, thinking it was Steve- who'd definitely left without his key- ripped open the door, but it wasn't Steve. 

The man in uniform handed him a slip of paper with a congratulations and orders to report to an office to receive his uniform as soon as possible. Bucky took the paper with numb hands. He didn't say anything back, just mouthed around air until the man turned sharply and walked back towards the stairs. Bucky stared down at the piece of paper with his number on it and tomorrow's date. 

That was the end of his luck. He'd gotten his call and Steve wasn't even there to cheer him on. He'd never even been out of New York- except for Jersey, but that didn't count. How was he supposed to survive in England? He supposed most men didn't survive, and that was the point, wasn't it? A soundless sob wracked his chest. All he wanted was to bury his face in Steve's neck and inhale that comforting scent of acrylic paint and Rinso. 

Steve would be ashamed of him right then. Steve would be proud to get his orders. Steve would run down to that office and be first on the boat. Steve would throw his scrawny ass on the line without a thought for his fellow man, and here Bucky was about to cry. 

He straightened his shoulders and cleared his throat. He numbly closed the door behind himself, eyes glued to the paper the whole way down the stairs and out into the early morning shuffle. He read his information over and over again. His station, his infantry, his title. It was actually happening.

The office was packed. They'd handed out notices to loads of boys at a time, and he was just one in a crowd of proud Americans willing to fight and die for their freedoms. He didn't mind the wait; he wasn't in any hurry to get that uniform on. As soon as he did, it made it real. 

"Barnes, James?"

Bucky raised a hand lamely and was ushered down the hall to get fitted. He was pulled and tugged, but he couldn't feel it. He'd sort of hoped that after training they'd just forget about him, leave him be or skip over him. He hated Nazi's as much as the next guy, but he had plenty keeping him here at home. He had a good job, decent friends, a swell fella- well, not his fella or anything. Just a fella. That was his best friend.

Steve. Oh God, he had to find Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	3. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Avengers go out on what should be a simple mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am treading so carefully through this beginning guys because things have to line up in order for this to work, so I really hope this goes well.

"Harry Osborn has sent a video threatening to unleash a capsule of H-32K in every major city on the Eastern seaboard," Maria informed everyone once Steve and Bucky took their seats. 

"The virus that wiped out South Africa in 2028?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah, and the virus we never found a cure for. The only way we stopped the mass death was to quarantine half the continent until we lost everyone inside the wall. It's still a wasteland inside," Steve answered. "We never knew who caused it the first time."

"We do now," Hill quipped. 

"We don't," Peter insisted when everyone hummed in agreement. The room went quiet for a moment.

"How do we know his threats are legitimate?" Vision wondered as he put a subconscious hand of protection on Wanda's knee under the table. He couldn't be infected, but she could.

Maria clicked a button on the screen and brought up pictures of an indistinct building in the middle of a desert. "We've known his whereabouts for a while, monitoring his activities, but we had no idea he'd been working on something like this or we would've taken him out a long time ago." She swiped and the pictures scrolled to new ones. "The reason we didn't know was because he had help."

The photo was threw night vision, but everyone could clearly see Harry shaking hands with one golden-horned god. Bucky threw his hands up. "I'm going to kill him. Who let Loki out? Does Thor know?"

"We don't know. Thor is still unreachable, but Loki's spells mean we couldn't see what Harry was doing."

"I thought he was a good guy now," Wanda countered. There was a collective scoff in the room, and Wanda saw everything from pity to disdain on their faces. She reached to the seat next to her and touched Steve's arm. "Have you heard from Thor?"

Steve held Wanda's gaze for a long few seconds before shaking his head. He hadn't heard from Thor since they'd defeated Thanos. After the decimation of his people, the loss of so much, he'd had to rebuild with the survivors. Earth had become too painful a reminder. He was brought back to the present with Bucky's whispered words in his ear.

"You'd think, as many times as this guy has died, he'd value life a little more."

"He does. Sometimes. I don't know," Steve admitted.

Maria swiped the information from the screen onto each of their tablets and crossed her arms. "Wheels up in thirty, guys, so get something to eat. We won't be home for dinner."

***

Osborn's headquarters were in the heart of New Mexico, surrounded by dirt and more dirt. It looked to be an abandoned military base, only the one road leading all the way from the nearest town to its front gate. Stark's thirteenth version of the Quinjet landed silently inside the perimeter. Steve unstrapped from the captain's chair and grabbed his shield. 

"We need to get to the center room where, more than likely, Osborn has holed up with his stash. Bucky, Vision, Shuri, take the west entrance. Peter, Wanda, and I will take the south. Use your locators to keep track of everyone's positions. Got it?"

Everyone nodded in accord and Steve tapped a button on the floor, making it lower out of the bottom of the plane until it touched the ground. Steve took off in one direction, Bucky in another, with one last look back before they were out of view. 

Steve ran around the corner to where the south entrance was located. "Wanda, open the door," he called backwards. Wanda let her hands glow with inky red and flung one wide, tearing the door off its hinges. "Peter, Bucky, go in from above," he ordered over comms.

"Got it!" Parker shot a web about halfway up the building before crawling the rest of the way. 

Steve entered into the darkness of the hallway and was met almost immediately by men ready to die for something they didn't even believe in. He sighed internally before landing the first punch. Hit after hit. He would send one flying and Wanda would send one crashing into them, taking out both. They worked their way down the narrow hallway. 

They didn't have much room to work, but then neither did the enemy. They were basically trampling over themselves to get at the two of them, which made it all the easier to fling the shield down a line of henchmen and take them out like dominoes. Sometimes, you couldn't beat the classics. By the time they made it to the end of the long hall that led to the main circle around the large enclosed room, Steve could see Peter and Bucky's positions right on top of them. 

The two of them ran around the wide circle and met up with Shuri, who has her back to the hallway of men scattered on the ground and was pointing a spear into the open doorway. He looked in to see Harry with a capsule held high in his hand. Vision was on the other side of Shuri with an almost vengeful look on his face. 

Wanda snuck past him to place a hand on Vision's hip, an acknowledgment that she was there and okay. He didn't look at her, but his shoulders relaxed just a little. Shuri nodded the end of her spear at the ground. "Put it down," she ordered. "Gently."

"I don't know why I would, Madam Ambassador." Harry sneered. "I have everything to lose by giving up."

"Yes," she agreed, "including you life. What a waste that would be after all this work."

"Some things are more important than life," Harry allowed ominously. He started to move backwards, slowly taking steps further into the room. Shuri stood up straighter.

"Mr. Osborn, don't move." When he refused, she warily followed him in, and then they all went in after her. 

Osborn turned with both hand in the air and walked towards where the rest of the capsules were being held in containers. "Some things are worth everything."

Just as the villain took a step across the middle of the room a loud clang rang out as the ceiling vent fell to the floor and Bucky and Peter dropped down into the room. The soldier held onto the side of the ceiling tile and kicked Osborn to the ground, while Peter dropped to the floor and dove for the capsule before it hit the ground. He rolled back up onto his feet and held up the unbroken vile for them all to see with a shit-eating grin across his face. "Nailed it."

Harry growled and lunged for Peter, but Bucky just smirked and caught Osborn by the arm, yanking it out of its socket and pigeon winging it against his body with his human hand. "Stop fighting."

Peter raised the hand not holding the virus towards the scientist, brow furrowed. "Harry, please. He's never been the forgiving one."

Osborn struggled anyway, screaming through the pain of a dislocated shoulder as he lurched toward Peter. "It's all I have left, Parker. I have to do this!" Harry turned to face Bucky before swinging at his face. Bucky ducked backwards, but lost his grip when Osborn pulled his arm dangerously out of its rightful place. The New Avenger reached for Osbsorn with his other arm but could only grab at his neck, and when Harry yanked in his gasp, everyone heard the snap. Metal fingers dented the spinal cord and the scientist went limp in Bucky's grip.

Peter yelled his former friend's name and Bucky dropped his body like it was on fire. "I didn't- I didn't mean to." His eyes were wide. He hadn't hurt someone like that in a long time, especially not without his conscious say so.

Steve was in front of him in a heartbeat. "I know. You're okay. Hey, Buck, look at me." Steve took in the scene- Peter hunched over his dead friend turned enemy, Wanda and Vision curled into each other talking in hushed whispers, Shuri calling in support from S.H.I.E.L.D., Bucky with wide, unseeing eyes and Steve's hands barely grazing his shoulders. Hill was going to have his ass for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	4. 4. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Steve spend their last night together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A pretty famous scene, but in a way you haven't seen it. I really hope you think about this every time you watch the movie now.

He found Steve on the ground in an alley under the fist of some guy twice his size. Of course. Bucky pulled the guy off him and threatened him with some force of his own. When the bully noticed he had a real fight on his hands, he split. Coward.

Bucky turned back to Steve who was wiping dirt off his pants. He shouldn't have let him leave. He knew when Steve was angry, he let his temper drive his pride. It was only a matter of time before he found himself in a situation he couldn't get himself out of and there would be a time when Bucky wasn't around to get him out.

"Sometimes I think you like getting hurt," he accused, trying not to let his anger seep into his words. He just wanted to make up. He didn't have much longer with Steve now.

"I had him on the ropes," Steve defended with a wince as he took stock of his aches and pains. 

Bucky looked down and saw a very familiar slip of paper on top of the day's paper on the ground. He bent down and picked them up. "How many times is this?" he questioned as he unfolded the enlistment form from the Army doctor. When was Steve going to learn? If he didn't stop, he'd actually have to fight, and Bucky couldn't stand that. 

4F.

Bucky's heart skipped a beat with relief. Another rejection. It was obviously why Steve was being so stubborn, but Bucky didn't care. He could be as stubborn as he liked. He wasn't going to the front lines any time soon. "Ah, you're from Paramus now?" Bucky chastised. Steve wasn't even paying attention, trying to get the dirt out of the only good coat he had. "You know it's illegal to lie on the enlistment form?" Steve wiped his nose clean and dusted his hands. "Seriously, Jersey?"

Steve finally looked up and his face fell. Hard. Bucky wished he could make Steve understand he didn't want this anymore than Steve did, but he wasn't about to make this any harder on either of them. "You get your orders?" Steve wondered, voice colored with something between jealousy and hurt.

Bucky took a deep breath, steeled himself. "The 107th. Sergeant James Barnes, shipping out for England first thing tomorrow." It was the hardest thing he'd had to say since he delivered the news of Steve's mom's passing to him.

However hard it was for Bucky, it was twice as hard for Steve. Steve's best friend. His only friend. The man he'd clung to after his ma's passing was leaving him. It only made sense. Bucky was a better man than he was. He was stronger, smarter, better looking. Not only did all the dames want him, now the Army did, too. Steve couldn't even get on the list. 

He hung his head in shame, unable to look Bucky in the eye. "I should be going." He was losing everything. There was a war on and Bucky was leaving him behind to fight it. Bucky. His Bucky. He couldn't help it; he looked back up to find Bucky looking at him with something like sadness in his eyes. Probably more like pity. 

Bucky couldn't let this be the last memory Steve had of him. If he left and never came home, he was going out with a bang. He and Steve were going to have the best last night ever. Minus all the really bad things Bucky wanted to do to him standing there with his hair ruffled and his cheeks pink from exertion. He was prettier than any dame. 

He shook that thought from his head before it lead somewhere and cracked a smile. "Come on, man," Bucky nudged as he flung an arm around Steve's small shoulders. He felt Steve come easily, and refused to admit it made him smile. "It's my last night. We gotta get you cleaned up." Bucky tossed the wretched enlistment form away before Steve could give it another thought. 

"Why? Where are we going?" Steve deadpanned.

Bucky just tilted his lips up into a knowing smile and handed Steve the newspaper. "The future."

***

They were making their way to the Expo fairgrounds, shoulders brushing easily as they walked. Steve's eyes went wide when they got to the gates and Bucky knew he'd picked the right place for their last night. "So I'm forgiven, then?"

Steve side-eyed him and elbowed him with a force he probably thought was hard. "You always were, jerk."

Bucky couldn't help the grin that cut his face as he leaned into Steve's space. "I heard Howard Stark himself was here to show something."

Steve's face scrunched up. "Really? I never really liked the guy. Rubs me wrong."

"You don't even know him?" Bucky chastised. 

Steve just shrugged. "I know. I just get a feeling. He's just the type of guy I hope never has kids."

They reached the front of the line and Bucky quickly pulled out a dollar before Steve could protest. He did anyway, but it was as they were ushered through the gate and into the Expo, so Bucky counted it as a win. Steve pocketed the ticket card and did a full circle. There were lights everywhere, rides, food, music. It was a little overwhelming, honestly, but amazing still.

He made it back to the front to find Bucky looking at him; he caught Bucky's gaze a lot lately, but he wasn't sure why. He knew with the war on, everyone was taking stock of their loved ones, and Steve was no exception. He's wasn't a fool. He knew Bucky could kick him to the curb any time he liked. He had other friends, a new girl every week (although, not recently, he'd noticed) and he got on well with the guys down at the docks. 

Yet Bucky never left him. He wasn't sure if that was admirable or sad. Either way, Steve was glad for it, and he swore to never take it for granted. He knocked his shoulder into Bucky's and blinked back tears. "Hey, lets find the fastest ride in the place." Bucky nodded in challenge and they took off.

Three turns later on something labeled the The Stomach Churn, Bucky was pleasantly giggly and leaning on Steve as they stumbled through the crowd of people. They laughed as they meandered to a less occupied space between buildings to calm down. The lights didn't reach quite far enough, making faint shadows cast across Steve's happy face. 

They turned into an alcove and Steve slumped against the brick wall. Bucky couldn't take his eyes off him. He fell against the wall on his shoulder right next to his best guy and back-handed Steve's chest playfully. "Having fun?"

Steve was finally catching his breath, taking just a little longer than Bucky, and he took a deep one before looking up at his best friend. "Yeah. Thanks, Buck. This is great."

Bucky smiled shyly and nodded. "Of course. Anything for you, punk." Steve just scoffed and let his head fall back against the wall, eyes blissfully closed. His neck curved beautifully in the dim light, all pale skin and sharp angles. Bucky leaned in a little closer and swallowed. He could just do it. Just closed the space and finally know what Steve's lips felt like after all those dreams. He only had one last chance to know.

"You're the best friend a guy could ask for," Steve murmured, eyes still closed. 

It was like someone splashed Bucky with ice cold water. What was he doing? Steve was his best friend. He'd almost convinced himself to take advantage of the one person who had never done him wrong. He put all of those ill-conceived ideas to rest for good and pasted a smile on his face. "Best friend a guy never asked for, you mean," he teased. 

Steve opened his eyes with an easy laugh. He was so open, so honest. Bucky had decided. This was going to be the best night of Steve's life if it was the last thing Bucky did. He was going to take Steve out on a date. Not theirs, because guys didn't do that, but on a double date. 

Just because he was fighting a losing battle with falling for his best friend didn't mean Steve had to suffer for it. Some girl was going to see what Bucky saw in him and make tonight a night to remember. Steve wouldn't even think twice about Bucky leaving. And maybe never coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! WHAH!! Xoxo


	5. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the mission, Steve, Bucky, and Peter all have to deal in their own ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter makes you edgy. It's meant to rub you wrong. Enjoy?

Hill graciously allowed the team to put the debrief off until tomorrow, taking the brunt of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anger while Steve and Bucky disappeared to their floor and Peter disappeared from the city for the night. As soon as the door was shut Bucky was pulling at his uniform, gasping for air like he hadn't done since those first few years after he got his mind back. Steve knew his words wouldn't break through the fog of Bucky's mind so he didn't even try, instead just stripping down to his undershirt and boxers. He went over to his dresser and pulled out a tie, silk, and brought it back over to where his husband was naked save for his briefs and on his knees on the floor. 

The broken man was scratching at his new arm with his human fingers. The arm was so well made by this point, a beautiful conjecture of Stark and Wakandan technology, that it changed with Bucky's skin tone, was warm to the touch, and felt like the real thing. At least to Steve. Apparently, it didn't fool Bucky. Grateful as he was for the kind gesture, it was still a robot arm.

Steve forcibly picked Bucky up from the floor and pushed him down on the bed. Bucky was eerily silent and looking up at Steve with raw fear in his eyes. The blond slowly took one of Bucky's wrists than the other so his lover could see what he was doing while he hummed The Very Thought of You by Billie Holiday. Steve wrapped the silk tie around his wrists, back and forth in a soothing pattern, until the material came to an end and he tied it off. "Keep them above your head," he ordered and knelt on the bed.

***

Peter pulled his hood up over his head and burrowed down in the material despite the warm evening. He didn't need people recognizing him. He needed to be unseen. He needed to get away. He hopped on the seven heading East out of Manhattan, and found a seat in a barely occupied cart. It felt like his chest was so heavy it was going to fall through his breast bone and onto the grimy subway floor. 

Harry had been a part of his life, for better or worse, since before he could remember. He'd been there at Peter's eighth birthday when no one else showed up. He'd been there when Peter broke his leg skateboarding in 7th grade. He'd been there when his Uncle Ben died. Even after everything that happened between them, he always thought he could save Harry. He'd seen it work before. Steve had saved Bucky. 

Maybe saved is the wrong word. 

Peter ground his teeth and punched the plastic seat next to him, listening to it groan under the force. Steve hadn't saved Bucky, he'd only kept him alive long enough to take away Peter's oldest friend. Heat singed the tip of Peter's ears as he stood from his bench and paced, muttering to himself like some junkie riding the train for shelter late at night. 

Bucky had stolen his chance to save Harry. Where was the justice in that? Captain America stood for freedom unless his husband took away your freedom to live. Who did they think they were? Bucky was no better than Harry was.

Peter gasped on a sob and slid down to the floor to curl into a ball. He wrapped his arms around his long legs, scrunched up against his body like they could keep his heavy chest from exploding all over the dirty train. It was Bucky's fault Harry was dead. He could never forgive him for what he'd done.

***

Steve was balls deep in Bucky's throat and the brunet was moaning around him, urging him on. It was embarrassing how undone Steve became when Bucky gave him exactly what he needed. No matter how weird or unconventional, Bucky would do what it took to make Steve happy. Looking back, he always had.

God, he was such an idiot. Bucky was in love with Steve way before Steve even knew feelings like that could exist between two men. They'd wasted so much time- he'd wasted so much time. He growled and thrust harder, choking Bucky and loving the sound of it. He reached out and took Bucky's prosthetic hand in his, twining their fingers together. "I want every piece of you, James Barnes," he demanded and rocked into his mouth again. Bucky furrowed his brows and whined.

Steve chuckled and combed his fingers through Bucky's hair. "Sorry. James Rogers-Barnes." It wasn't possible, but Steve was pretty sure Bucky was smiling with a dick in his mouth. "Open wider and let me finish," the blond ordered and Bucky obliged easily. Steve would never understand how he got so lucky.

His mouth dropped open on a silent moan as his dick twitched in Bucky's throat. Bucky's mouth was suddenly a vice, sucking every last drop of his orgasm out of him whether he liked it not. Steve grabbed a fistful of Bucky's hair as the last wave crashed over him, making Bucky moan softly around him. He shuddered and shied away from his husband's still exploring tongue.

Steve fell down beside Bucky, chest heaving for air and his head light on endorphins. Bucky yanked on the tie and the blond watched the fabric tear like butter before the now free man curled up on him, one leg across his hips and his fake arm tentatively placed on his chest. Steve rolled his eyes but rewarded the bravery by intertwining their fingers. "You're forgiven," Steve decreed, careful not to break the quiet too much. He never felt like it was his place to forgive Bucky for things that weren't his fault, but it was what Bucky needed.

"Thank you," Bucky croaked, voice raw, then tried to clear his throat when Steve smiled wide.

"What was that?" the captain teased.

Bucky dug his toe into the soft inside of Steve's thigh. "If I still sound like this tomorrow when we have to debrief with Hill, I'm going to kill you," he mostly mouthed. Steve just hummed so Bucky kissed his shoulder and settled in. 

Sleep came easily, the two of them wrapped up in each other. Darkness took over the sky and turned the clock to the late hours of night. A figure emerged from the darkness, adorned in green and gold. He raised his staff and pointed it at the resting pair. "Stupid humans. Always thinking with their heart and not their head. Maybe I am not so different."

Loki spoke quiet words over them while the air crumpled, shifted, and Steve and Bucky's bodies turned ghostly pale. If someone were to open their eyes, they'd see white clouding the beautiful blue. They were only shells without souls. They were now men out of time. With a sad shake of his head, Loki disappeared into the night, leaving nothing behind. Steve and Bucky weren't there anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	6. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky wake up in 1943.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I love pre-era Stucky! This chapter almost- ALMOST- gives a glimpse at what it would have been like if they'd gotten together way back then.

Steve woke up first, the saturated color of early morning creeping through the tiny window by the kitchen sink. He couldn't breathe, and when he look down he knew why. Bucky's heavy arm was across his chest.

His very small chest.

The tiny window by the kitchen sink?

Steve sat straight up, knocking Bucky off him and making him mutter something to shame his mother. He was back in his and Bucky's Brooklyn apartment. They were on their tiny bed, the only thing they could afford with Steve's unsteady employment. He blinded smacked at Bucky, knocking him in the shoulder then in the face. 

"Buck." The chairs with the plastic seats in a horrid green and pink pattern that he'd kept from his ma's place. "Bucky," he tried again, more urgent. The pin up of Fay Wray that Bucky got from one of the guys at the docks after the guy had gotten married. "James!" Steve snapped and Bucky shot up, disoriented. 

"Wah?"

"Something's wrong."

Bucky rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, you waking me up like the tower is on fire. That's what's wrong."

Steve blinked rapidly a few times, and when it didn't change the scenery he sighed. "We're not in the tower anymore, Dorothy."

"What are you-" Bucky broke off when he saw the boney knobs of Steve's spine. "Steve, what happened to you?" He sat up more and caught sight of their surroundings. He instinctively reached under his pillow where his trusty knife always sat but came up empty. "What happened to us? Why are we at the old place?"

Steve turned and let his feet slap on the cold floor. "Something's wrong."

Bucky snorted. "No shit. Is this like a S.H.I.E.L.D. training thing?"

"I don't think so. Last time they tried to fake a room from the forties, I could tell before I opened my eyes. It even smells like it used to." He inhaled deeply and his lips stretched into a grin. Steve hadn't realized how weak his memories were until he was faced with the real thing.

The real thing. The smile slipped off his face as quickly as it came.

"I forgot how small you were." Bucky's hands curled around Steve's thin, cold shoulders. Steve sighed and bent his head to rest his left cheek against Bucky's hand. Bucky's warm, rough, real hand. When he hummed happily, Bucky yanked his hand back and swore. "Holy shit! Oh, my God, my arm!"

Steve turned at the outburst, but Bucky wasn't upset- at least not that Steve could tell. He was shocked. His face was placid and his eyes wide. "Breathe, Bucky," the blond reminded gently. He placed two skinny, long-fingered hands on Bucky's shoulders and pressed; the pressure always grounded him. Bucky took a long breath in and out. They were silent for a long minute before Bucky laughed, not loud but too loud in the stillness. "What?"

"You're telling me to breathe," Bucky mused.

He was right. If anyone needed air now, it was Steve. He was small again. That had to mean he had asthma again. Reflex had he reaching behind him to where his inhaler always sat. Low and behold, cool glass and soft rubber met his touch. "This can't be happening."

Bucky could see the rising panic on Steve's face in the slight twitch of his lip. He had to calm him down because he didn't have the same endowments in this time as he did in their day. In their new day. Whatever. "We don't even know what this is yet."

"We know it isn't good," Steve murmured, rubbing a hand aimlessly over his thigh, gripping at the lean width over and over. 

"Who says?" Bucky demanded, surprising himself with his tone. It must have surprised Steve, too, because he looked up with confusion. Bucky took Steve's hand and pulled him off the bed with him. 

"Buck, where are we-"

"Just hush for a damn second," he complained without any malice and dragged Steve out of their tiny apartment and down the hall to the shared bathroom. He stopped in front of the mirror over the sink and his mouth dropped open. Steve saw the wetness collect in his eyes, but Bucky pushed it away a moment later. 

Bucky's hands wandered over his chest and arms, smiling breaking out as he felt himself up. "I'm normal again, Steve! No scars, no marks, no fucking arm," he spat and slapped his own shoulder. 

Steve went soft. Bucky was right, he looked just like Steve always remembered him when he allowed himself not to feel guilty about wanting the old Bucky back. He was strong, but not from torture, just from good old fashion hard work. He hair was cut close to his neck, but soft and falling in his eyes. He was Bucky again.

Steve faced forward and looked at himself. What he could see at least. All he could catch in the mirror was from the shoulders up, but it was enough. He was thin and gaunt and nothing like the man he'd gone to sleep as. He wasn't Captain America. He was just Steve Rogers. 

"Hey, no. I know that look. You stop that." Bucky turned Steve, forcibly, to look at him and raked a hand through his hair. "Don't forget I was head over heels for you way back then...now, too." Steve scoffed. "I mean it. I love-"

"Morning, chumps," their neighbor two doors down, Curtis, came waddling in. They earned an odd look from the man, and realized too late that they were a little too close for this day and age. Bucky moved his hand from Steve's neck to his forehead, pretending to feel for a fever. "He sick again?"

Steve snarled and shot back, "He's got a name."

Bucky snickered. "Same old Steve," he mumbled just for them before throwing an arm over Steve's shoulder and mussing his hair. "Let's get you back to bed," he added for Curtis' benefit. Steve rolled his eyes but let Bucky lead him back to their room. Once inside, Bucky dropped his arm and blew out a breath. "It's so weird to have to hide it. I mean we're married...or we were...will be, but if Curtis found out we're fairies, he'd-"

"Can you not call us that?" Steve requested, non too gently. 

Bucky's face lost its smirk instantly when he'd realized what he'd said. "Oh, Steve, I didn't mean it like that. You know I didn't." He padded over to Steve and cupped his face in his hands. "I knew a long, long time ago that I was into dick. Fairy doesn't offend me."

Steve reached up and wrapped his hand around Bucky's wrist, barely able to encompass it. "It should. People don't mean it as a compliment, Buck."

They weren't about to fight about something they'd left behind seventy ago when they had bigger fish to fry. "Let's drop it. I'm sorry. I won't say it again." Bucky pulled Steve to him and placed a dry kiss to his forehead. "We have more pressing issues right now."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so. We need to figure out exactly what year it is, what's going on in this time."

"Well, you're adorable again," Steve punched him, "so I'd say no later than '43."

"Yeah, but how close to '43, because a lot happens in 1943."

A knock rang through the apartment, making them both jump. They shared a look and a shrug before Bucky went to open it. Two men in US Army uniforms and stern faces greeted him. "James Buchanan Barnes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	7. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our friends in 2043 realize something's not right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are finally going to start...continuing to make zero sense. Sorry not sorry. Read on.

"You go look."

"No way. Last time I had to go, I saw Barnes in some leather thing that I had nightmares about for weeks. You go look," Shuri reminded.

Tony grumbled but left Shuri standing outside the elevator as he entered and asked FRIDAY to take him up the Steve and Bucky's floor. They hadn't made it to the briefing that morning, which wasn't reason for alarm in itself, but then they'd missed Sunday lunch. Two super soldiers with black holes for stomachs never missed Sunday lunch, even if they came wrapped in only sheets and reeking of sex. 

Wanda had cooked, so she claimed dibs on not checking on them. They refused to let Vision go ever again, in case he forwent the door and earned the Winter Soldier's revenge for it. It was between Shuri and Tony and it looked like Tony was the unwitting victim. The elevator doors dinged as they opened and FRIDAY's voice came in a whisper over the unseen speakers. 

"They've been asleep all day, breath rate normal, heart rate normal. I can't really blame them after last night's activities."

"Okay, ew. No more, FRIDAY. Thank you." Tony look cautious steps towards the upper deck where a couch and TV sat, and behind it the giant sliding door to the bedroom, open and revealing a dark room. "Hey, Elton and Freddie? Don't throw anything at me, okay? It's Tony." 

He covered his eyes at the last second just in case and walked into the room. "Oh, God," he muttered at the smell of sweat and sex, stale in the air. "Guys?" When no one answered, he opened his fingers and peeked through them, instantly closing them again and turning away. "Right. Naked. Of course you are." He cleared his throat and raised his voice. "Cap? Buck?"

Silence. Not even a snore. Tony guessed that's what you got when you were the pinnacle of human perfection. He walked backwards gingerly, taking each step slowly until his thighs hit the bed frame. He cursed his life and pressed his lips tight before barking, "Soldiers!" and clasping his mouth shut again. 

Still nothing. These guys slept like the dead. 

Except they didn't. 

Oh, God. Don't let them be dead. Panicked, Tony dropped all courtesy and turned around. Damn. He was struck by the purple lines that criss-crossed Bucky's butt and thighs like a corset, the edges raised. They looked awfully painful. Tony shook his head with a smirk and reached towards Steve's shoulder. If one of them would forgive being woken in this position, it'd be Steve.

"Steve? Cap, wake up." He shook harder but nothing. Something wasn't right. Even if these two had worked all their issues out in therapy, he knew they woke up on a razor's edge. He used to accidentally wake Bucky all the time from naps in the lounge with one wrong step. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the first number he could think of. 

"Hey, Pepper. I think something's wrong with Steve and Bucky. Can you come up to their room?" Tony could hear her steps through the phone before he finished talking and wasn't surprise that she was already on her way. They were her family, too. He put his phone back in his pocket and pulled the sheet up from the end of the bed where it was crumpled to give them some semblance of decency. 

"FRIDAY?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You said they'd been asleep all day?"

"I just went back over my records while you were checking out Mr. Rogers-Barnes' ass, and they fell asleep late last night and haven't moved since."

Tony clicked his tongue and scratched his head. "I wasn't checking out Bucky's ass."

"Why were you checking out Bucky's ass?" Pepper asked as she breezed into the room. "Oh, God." She pinched her nose as she approached the bed, but her hand fell when she saw the two of them on the bed, covered haphazardly with the sheet and unmoving. "FRIDAY?"

"Security footage is sent to your phone, ma'am. All of their vitals look good. Except-"

"Except?" Tony urged. 

"I didn't think to check it earlier because it's not protocol, but their brain activity is very low."

"How low?" He demanded as he lifted Steve's wrist and pressed two fingers to it. 

"Nearly brain dead, sir."

"What!" Tony gasped. "Brain dead? That's not right? How can they-"

Pepper placed a firm hand on Tony's shoulder, her skin thin but her grip still grounding after all those years. "I'll keep things quiet out there and go get Shuri and Wanda. Breathe."

Tony nodded even as he was rambling. "The immortals are dead. I can't believe they died naked. That's not right." Pepper sighed in exasperation and walked out of the bedroom. Tony pulled up the security footage from last night on his phone, flicked it onto the wall and played it through on fast forward. He pushed down the guilt at watching such a private scene play out and focused on catching anything out of place. He had just gotten to midnight when he heard the elevator doors ding. 

"Shuri, come look at this and tell me if you see anything," Tony called. The two women entered the room, but had more decorum than Tony and only wrinkled their noses at the scene and the smell. He handed Shuri his phone and walked around to the other side of the room to open a window. A shiver passed over his spine as he reached the far corner of the room, and he instinctively looked back over his shoulder to find nothing there. He opened the window and, when he turned around, Wanda was sitting gracefully on the edge of the bed with her hands poised above the men's heads. 

"I was going to ask you to do that," Tony offered.

Wanda only raised a perfect brow. "You didn't have to." Her fingers bent at odd angles while red swirls tickled at their skulls. "They are not brain dead, but they are not here."

"Where are they?" Shuri asked, eyes locked on the video footage. 

"The days of old."

The threesome jumped and Tony released a tiny shriek at Thor's booming voice. They all stood at attention when they saw Thor's ragged appearance. His hair had grown back out and longer, his beard was short but unkempt, his eyes looked tired. 

"FRIDAY!"

"Right, sorry. Thor is here, sir." Tony threw up a hand in disbelief.

"Our brothers are stuck in a time they thought they'd left behind long ago, and if we don't get them back, we may all cease to exist."

Tony rubbed a hand down his face. "It's good to see you, too, buddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live for the kudos and comments y'all! COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	8. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets a house call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad at this one :( My babies

"James Buchanan Barnes?" 

Bucky looked back over his shoulder at Steve, who was slipping a shirt on and coming to stand next to him. Neither of them had any relatives in the war, so they weren't about to get the bad news. "Yeah..."

"You missed your boat, son," the older man, a Staff Sergeant, according to his insignia, informed Bucky. 

The young soldier didn't understand.  _What boat?_  "I don't know what-"

"Sergeant Barnes of the 107th?" the other man, a Corporal, reiterated. Bucky nodded, habit. "You were to report to the docks for service at 0700 hours this morning."

Bucky put a hand to his head, pressing into his temples. He was getting a headache. Nothing made sense in his brain. In the ensuing silence, he heard Steve's broken, "No." His head popped up, the headache bouncing off his skull, to see Steve staring at the faded, hand-written calendar by the door. He looked from it to the uniform hanging on the wall and balked. 

"Steve." He wasn't sure what Steve was going to do for him, but he'd always saved him when he really needed it. "Today's the day I leave."

"I talked to Erskine last night," Steve blurted, memory coming back. "He promised me a spot in the Army." Steve heard the Corporal scoff at him, but ignored it. He'd show them all one day.

Would he?

"Why don't you show your...friend here a good example and do the right thing," the Corporal goaded unpleasantly. 

"Sergeant Barnes, you're to report to the docks immediately for a second deployment. Come with us," the Staff Sergeant informed him and handed him a piece of paper with his amended deployment information on it. 

Bucky put his hands up in denial and backed up. "No, I can't..."

The faces of the two military men changed instantly from formal to fierce. "Come with us right now, Sergeant Barnes," the Corporal insisted. 

Steve stepped between the pair and Bucky like he was going to be able to stop something violent from happening. "He can't go. He- he's sick."

The Staff Sergeant sighed and nodded to the Corporal, who knocked Steve out of the way and advanced of Bucky's shaking form. Then the Sergeant trained his eyes on Steve, giving him a once over from head to toe and back. "I assumed as much by the looks of things, but we can straightened that out in battle. Every man does his part, kid- even you, apparently."

Steve heard a wounded sound in Bucky's voice and whipped around. Bucky was being dragged across the room with his heals digging into the ground and his now weaker and human arm trying to push the bigger man away. "I can't go, Steve! Don't let them take me. I can't go through it again!" The Corporal wrapped an arm around Bucky's waist and pulled him along. "Please, Steve, help me!"

The tiny blond ran over to the soldier and banged his small fists on the man's shoulder. "Let him go! He's not right for war. He can't go there. They'll hurt him!" The Corporal knocked Steve away and kept pulling Bucky towards the door while the brown-headed young man kicked out in fear, tears falling freely.

"Steve! Help me!"

Steve lurched towards his best friend and one-day husband but the Staff Sergeant bodily blocked him. "If you're really care about him, you won't let him be a coward." He reached up and took Bucky's uniform off the wall before following the two men making a scene down the hallway. Steve wanted to run after them, punch the men out and throw Bucky over his shoulder, but he wasn't that man anymore...yet. He didn't know. 

He slammed the door shut with a barbaric yell. He was left alone in the apartment with deafening tranquility. They were going to put Bucky on a boat and ship him off to war. He was going to be taken by the Red Skull and fall off the train and lose his arm and his mind and-

Steve could  _not_  let that happen. Not again. He was the one being a coward.

He wrenched open the door and flew into the hallway to find most of his neighbors loitering in the hall whispering to each other. "Oh, Stephen. Is everything alright? I heard a ruckus." Steve slid by the elderly woman with her hair in curlers and kept moving.

"Everything's..." What? Fine? "going to be okay, Mrs. Russo." He nearly glided down the three flights of stairs before he realized that he wasn't Captain America anymore and his chest was heavy and his airways tight. He took in giant gulping breaths as he ran out onto the street.

The early birds were bustling, but for the most part people were still getting ready for their day. There were only a couple cars on the road and he immediately picked out the one with a pale James Barnes in the back seat. It passed by him just as he ran onto the uneven concrete road and he turned and took off after it. 

Bucky saw him after a few seconds and pressed his face and hands to the back window, pleading for Steve to be faster, stronger...better. Steve ran until he collapsed on the street, the car continuing to pull away with his husband reaching for him through the glass. The blond sucked in air as he slumped to the ground, letting his forehead hit the pavement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	9. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Avengers are at a loss, and Peter is lost on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The NA are so divided and idk how to make them better :( wahh

"Please, Peter, answer your phone. Something has happened to Steve and Bucky. We need you. Call us back." Shuri pocketed her phone and came back to the impromptu meeting in the living room not twenty feet from where the men laid passed out.

"They're alive?" Wanda

"Yes, very much alive," Thor assuaged her. "Though they are not living in our time."

"What does that mean?" She urged, running short on patience.

Tony walked around the table and sat on its surface next to the Sokovian. "It wouldn't be the first time we've encountered travel outside our time. To be fair, it's the first time for good old fashion time travel, but we've traveled between dimensions and worlds. What I want to know is why your brother is sending my boys to another time."

The Asgardian finally took a seat with a huff, like the subject was too heavy for him. "That I do not know, but I believe it must be for a good reason. Time travel isn't Loki's gift, so I know he couldn't have done this on his own anyway."

"No offense to you personally, Thor, but Loki hasn't set a great precedent to this point," Vision remarked judiciously. "Couldn't he be up to his old tricks?"

Thor's hand closed into a fist on the table but he stayed otherwise unmoving. "He has spent the last twenty years helping to rebuild our people. My brother has become a respected member of our leadership. He is a trusted member of my council. This is not the same Loki you once knew. Death and loss has changed him. It has changed us all."

The truth of it washed over the entire room. They all knew loss; they all knew what it was like to be effected by it. Shuri nodded. "Okay, then. I believe you. We need to find Loki and find out why he is doing this, and convince him to send the Captain and White Wolf back to us."

Tony scoffed and picked invisible lint off his pants. "Somehow, I don't think it'll be that easy."

***

Peter saw the flashing light on his phone, knew there was a voicemail waiting for him- maybe from MJ, maybe from Shuri, or Tony- but he couldn't bring himself to listen to it. The phone slid back into his pocket. He'd told MJ he needed a few days and she'd understood. Everyone else would just have to wait. If they really wanted to reach him they would find him. It wasn't like he was hiding. Not really.

"Peter?"

Spider-man shot two webs above his head and lowered smoothly down the fire escape he'd been sitting on to the window he knew so well and ducked his head inside. "Yeah, Aunt May?"

"I'm making meatloaf for dinner. Are you staying?"

The young man flipped and shot through the window, landing on the old dingy carpet of his childhood room without a sound before standing and giving his only living relative a smile. "Yeah, if you don't mind. I'd love to."

Aunt May waved a hand at him absently as she walked out of his room. "Mind? I never see you anymore. You show up and want to spend time and..."

Peter lost her voice as it mixed with the TV in the living room. He sat down on the bottom tier of the old bunk bed and let his head drop into his hands. Last time he was in this room, he was packing up to move into the tower. Mr. Stark- Tony- had offered him a formal position on the Avengers after Thanos and he'd been quick to take it that time. It gave him access to a fully-funded higher education, via Stark Industries, and real world experience, via the world-saving superhero team of people he'd thought he'd meet in his wildest dreams. 

That was when things were bright and shiny. Even fighting Thanos, even dying, was almost...cool. They'd saved  _the world_. It had been his first real mission and they'd won in the end. The next few years were easy. The Avengers kicked ass and took names. He was two semester away from a degree, and he'd just met a girl that blew him away. Gwen died during an attack later that year. He couldn't save her. He'd lost so much over the years. Uncle Ben. Gwen. He'd almost lost MJ just a few years ago. Now Harry. 

All of them were taken by evil people, people that wanted to hurt Peter and inflict damage for damage's sake. Except for Harry. He'd been taken by someone he considered family. Bucky was like a father to him. Bucky had taught him how to fight. Bucky had been the one to make him reconnect with MJ after Gwen died. How could someone he'd trusted do something so horrible to him? Tears dripped into the palms of his hands as he mourned for his loss.

"Do you want peas or- Oh, Peter." Aunt May scurried over to his bed and sat down, scooping his wilting form into her arms and shushing him gently. He broke, tears and snot smearing into her sweater. "It's okay, Peter. Whatever it is isn't the end."

That only made Peter cry harder. He couldn't just hide out here forever. He had to go back and face the man that did this and the man that made it possible. Harry dying wasn't the end of it, he had so much more to do. "I think it might be all over soon though, Aunt May," he confided.

His maternal figure smoothed his wild hair down and rocked them side to side. "You sound like you're about to take the weight of the world on your shoulders, Peter Parker." She pulled him back to arm's length and fixed her gaze on him. "Don't you do something stupid now."

Peter's face crumpled. "I don't know what to do."

"When you don't know what to do, honey, do nothing at all."

"Nothing at all," he repeated to himself. It sounded hard, but maybe she was right. Maybe he needed to just stay out of it for a while, let the chips fall where they may.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	10. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve finally gets the serum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not satisfying at all so settle in.

Apparently after Steve met Erskine, he left town to work on plans that no one would clue him in on. He was pretty sure he knew what they were. The point was, he had to wait  _two weeks_  until he went to basic training to meet up with the doctor. He'd gotten to training and barely had a moment to breath, much less stop the track of events he already knew were coming. He'd forgotten how hard basic was. Everyone hated him. His own body hated him. Even his C.O. hated him, he thought. Everyone except Peggy. 

God, Peggy. Meeting her all over again was like a punch in the gut. The first time he'd met her he'd fallen for her just as easy as pie. After the serum at least; before, he'd had a lot on his mind, but once he was big, well, he could stand to let loose a little. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, with twice the bittersweet as he pictured that same smile on her death bed. It was so pretty he momentarily forgot that he wasn't actually meant to be there, in that time.

Meanwhile, Bucky was out there fighting, risking his life, and getting ever closer to that fateful mission. Steve had to do something to stop that- and fast. "Doctor Erskine," he called after the man as he was hurrying across the military camp towards his tent. Abraham turned and smiled when he saw Steve's face. 

"Steven. How are you?" His glasses, perpetually askew, rested low on his nose, and he held a folder on his hand. Steve caught a glance of it before the doctor closed it; it was about him. The future him. The serum and the transformation at least. 

"Not so good, Doc. Can we talk?"

Erskine ushered them under the flap that served as a door. It was nearly dark out so the doctor lit one of the lamps and sat on an impeccably made cot, patting the space across from him for Steve. Reluctantly, he took it. He wasn't sure how best to put it.  _He was from the future_  almost made him laugh. The doctor cleared his throat and Steve and sighed out slowly. "I know about the serum."

For his part, the doctor kept his cool. Maybe he'd given Steve more credit than he was due. "You still choose to go through with the program?"

Steve was shaking his head before Erskine was done. "That's not what I meant. I already know what it's going to do. I know what I'll become. I'm not backing out. I-" Steve wrung his hands until the German placed a gentle one over his to stop him. "I need you to give it to me now. It can't wait."

Doctor Erskine didn't say anything, so Steve lifted his head. He found eyes filled with pity looking back at him. "Once you have done this, you cannot go back. What could be so important that you risk your life?"

"My reason was good enough when it was to fight for my country," Steve hissed, defensive all of a sudden. 

Erskine didn't rise to the jab. "I am not questioning the validity of your reason, only the reason itself. The strength of your mind will be no less tested than the strength of your body."

Steve bit at his lip, trying to decide whether or not to tell him. He seemed like a good man, he saw past Steve's exterior when no one else did, but they were both living in a certain time. He knew Erskine much better than the man knew him right then. He knew that Erskine would literally die for him. He knew he could trust him.

"His name's Bucky."

Steve watched his reaction very closely, but there wasn't much of one. Acceptance, if anything. "He is fighting in the war?"

"He's been fighting for a long time," Steve allowed, "but if I don't get to him soon something bad is going to happen to him." Erskine nodded, maybe he expected that answer. He reached under his bed and pulled out a bottle with a worn label and two glasses. He handed one to Steve. The soldier fiddled with the cool cup and asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Just one?" the doctor teased. Yes, just one. The same one he'd asked a hundred years ago. He just really needed to hear the answer.

"Why me?"

And Abraham Erskine told him. 

***

It was just as nerve-wracking the second time around. People gathered in the viewing gallery, Peggy included, as they locked him into the capsule. Erskine was hovered over him as they injected the penicillin. "Serum infusion in five...four...three..."

Oh shit, this whole day was a total blur and he'd been to focused on getting to Bucky. He'd almost forgotten. "Erskine!" he whisper-yelled. The doctor looked down at him in concern. "I have to tell you something."

"Whatever it is, it will have to wait, Steven. Two..."

"No, you don't under-"

"One."

The serum stung as it drained into his body, but it was nothing compared to what would come next, he knew. Soon, the capsule was closing around him and they were commencing with the greatest change of Steve's life until the day he lost...loses Bucky. He thought having been through it before would help prepare him, but the reminder of the pain only added to the reality of the pain. He supposed it was true what they said: it's better if you don't see it coming. He could say the same about losing Bucky. It'd hurt like a cannon to the chest the first time, but at least he didn't have to anticipate it. 

He did everything he could to keep his screams in for as long as he could, but soon they were creeping out from between his lips. Then they were bellowing off of his tongue. They were going to turn it off. He was going to lose his only chance to save Bucky from what they both knew was coming. "No! Don't! I can do this!"

The relief that flooded him when it was over and they opened the metal doors made him dizzy and light-headed. He'd panted for air in the near vacuum that was the coffin he'd almost just died in. Again. Now, he could breathe. Really breathe. It had to say something that he felt like himself again. He knew this body much better after all those years. He couldn't get a thought past  _thank God_  and  _need water_. 

Peggy was there, in front of him, and she looked impressed. He'd appreciate it more if he wasn't about to pass out, and if he wasn't married- or would be. He really wanted to stand up, stand tall, because he could now. He needed to think straight. There was something....

It hit him all at once. He lifted a heavy arm and place it on Erskine's shoulder, using it to stand taller and to impress the seriousness of his next statement. "You need to leave."

"Don't be impertinent. Everything went well," the doctor informed him.

Steve shook his head. He wasn't listening. "You have to leave." He took the offered shirt and pulled it quickly over his head as he got his bearings before putting both hands on Erskine's shoulders. "Please, get all these people out of here."

"That's not going to happen," Howard countered. "They all want to see the success. You're about to be a hero to the free world, Rogers."

The blond man wanted to punch every single one of them, but it wasn't their fault. They didn't know. He needed to show them. If he could save Erskine, then maybe that meant he could reverse or stop what might happen to Bucky. Steve turned and looked through the crowd of people hastily, but he couldn't see the vaguely familiar face from his memory. The gallery was empty, everyone down on the lab floor. "Everyone! You need to get out of here!" The crowd looked at him with mild concern but mostly disregard him. "Listen to me, people! There's a bomb in-"

The explosion still took him off guard. It was a long couple of seconds before he took his arms from in front of his face. While everyone was busy looking up towards the blast and cowering on the ground, he whipped around to where the last of the serum viles were kept. Heinz Kruger. "Stop!" he shouted and launched himself at the man, knocking past Erskine on his way. He tackled the spy and heard a sharp bang right next to his ear as he did. They both hit the ground and Steve wrestled himself on top, pinning one arm down. 

Before he could get the other, he felt and heard the sting of a bullet graze his side, making him grunt and topple to the side. Kruger scurried up and out of the lab while Steve lifted an arm to assess the damage. Not bad. It'd heal in a few hours. "I'm going after him," the soldier declared.

"Steve, you've been shot," Howard shouted at him with something terrifyingly scared in his voice. Steve whipped his head around at the sound of fear and saw the reason for it. Erskine was  laying on the ground and blood was seeping into the metal below him. 

No! He was supposed to stop it. Erskine was a good man that deserved to live and he needed him to help Bucky! Instead, not only had Erskine gotten shot, so had he. He was fairing worse the second time around. He bent over Erskine, unsure how to explain that he could've done more. Erskine only gave him a sure gaze and pointed his shaking pointer finger at his chest, right over his heart, tapping twice before it fell limply to the ground. 

Not again. Anger boiled up in Steve's body, filling his torso and spilling into his face. This was not happening again. He nearly growled as he took off after the son of a bitch that killed one of the best men he'd ever known. Twice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	11. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Avengers get to work trying to find Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get interesting.

"Whether or not Loki is responsible, we still need to find him," Shuri rationalized. 

Thor clapped on her on the shoulder, making her wince. "I agree, princess Shuri. Although I do not believe he could be capable of this travesty, I do believe he will be able to give us insight on what is happening."

"Great," Tony encouraged. "So, now we just have to find him. Any ideas?"

Wanda called FRIDAY's name and maps projected down onto the walls that showed bright dots of different colors scattered around the world. "Vision and I have been combining your tracking systems," she nodded to Stark, "and our abilities to pick up events that we're think might be Loki, but it's not much to go on." She pointed to the bright yellow pinpoints drawn across the maps. "These are instances of things being stolen without any trace." She pointed to the blue. "These are unexplained natural activity that could follow him using magic in large quantities." The red were next. "These are sightings of people that could be him...maybe."

"There doesn't seem to be any pattern," Tony pointed out.

"Yeah, like I said, it's not much, but I think together we can eliminate a bunch of them and then start investigating the rest."

"Let me identify the visual occurrences," Thor offered. Wanda nodded and handed Thor a Stark pad. 

Vision clasped his hands together, fingers tangling. "I can't imagine he would stay in one place very long. Even if we do identify him somewhere, he probably won't be there when we get there."

"Then we better hurry," Shuri countered and took a Stark pad for herself. "I'll go through the stolen stuff. See if I can create a storyline for it."

"Vision?" Wanda called across the table to get his attention. "I'd love your help with the natural activity." Vision's face went soft and he nodded towards his love before joining her on the other side of the table and taking a tablet of his own. 

Tony shrugged on his jacket and rapped two knuckles on the thick glass table. "Well, I see you've got things handle. All of this is beyond my time. I hope you don't mind if I go find Pepper. I haven't seen her in near two days."

Thor stood and came to Tony, wrapping his strong arms around the aging tech genius with surprising softness. "Thank you for your help, Tony. I have missed you as my brother in arms."

The billionaire placed his arms around Thor's back, giving him an amiable pat. "Any time, pal. Although," he countered as he pulled away, "if you wait this long again, I may not be around next time."

The room went quiet, everyone looking at Tony with looks ranging from sorrow to offense on their faces. "Don't say that," Wanda demanded. 

Tony just laughed. "Don't worry about me, Maximoff. I've lived."

"And you will continue to do so," Thor confirmed with a firm nod of his head. "Still, I will not wait so long next time to see you again." It felt like an admission, like acceptance that Tony wasn't always going to be around, but of course he wasn't. They just didn't want to think about it. They didn't want to think that some of them would not only out live Tony, but Shuri and Peter, and whoever else came along as the years kept ticking by. 

Was that how Steve and Bucky felt every day? Seeing Peggy and Dum Dum and now Tony, everyone they've loved, wither and disappear while they lived on felt like a punishment they didn't deserve. Everyone must've been on the same page because Vision spoke up. "I will be here when the Captain and Sergeant Barnes return, no matter how long it takes."

"Let's agree not to take that long," Shuri quipped and swiped through her tablet almost furiously. A few seconds later, the others went to work, too, hunkered down for the long haul. Tony looked over them with fond pride and left them to their work.

Hours- days?- went by with very little progress. They'd confirmed the lastest sighting of Loki, but it was almost a full twenty-four hours old, and he hadn't stayed in any one place for longer than a couple hours at a time. The stolen things were mostly generic: clothes, sunglasses, medical supplies, and food. The only thing that caught their attention was the original hand written letter Steve wrote to Peter after the airport fight- their first encounter- that had been on display at Cap's museum when someone found it in a deserted backpack on the streets of Queens.

If it had been about personal things, their lives or their loved ones, Peter and Steve would've demanded it back, but it wasn't. It was filled with Steve's hopes for the Avengers as it grew and added new members, like Parker, into the fold. He expressed how proud he was of the then teenager for having the bravery to do what was right in the face of danger. It was a shining example of Captain America in his primary role. 

Really what happened was that when Peter went down to the museum to see the damn thing and take it back, he'd seen a young girl- eight or nine- reading the letter with her nose pressed to the glass and her eyes wide as saucers. He couldn't take it away after that.

But why would Loki steal the letter? How do they even know it was Loki who stole it. The security cameras had been messed with during the robbery, and it seemed such a strange thing for him to need on the run. 

Shuri stood up abruptly. "I've got something." They all came to attention as she swiped what she was looking at up into the air. "Two hours ago. A sighting." There he was. Loki in a black hoodie and jeans looking right up into the security camera of a shopping mall. His face was defiant but something in his eyes looked...scared. 

"Where is it?"

Shuri swiped again and a map came up with the blinking dot right in the middle. 

Wanda stood up and looked closer. "He's in New York."

Shuri zoomed in. "He's in Queens."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My love is in New York, God bless him. I missed him.
> 
> COMMENTS AND VOTES! MWAH!! Xoxo


	12. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve sneaks away to save Bucky but he gets caught up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I didn't post last week. I was finally done with summer classes and I have a few long days off work and I took the opportunity to rest and recharge and it was worth it. I'm back now so let's continue our journey.

Apparently, stopping a Nazi spy on your first day wasn't good enough to earn the respect of the people that mattered. Everyone still saw Steve either as a scrawny lab experiment they needed to observe or as a doll they needed to show off to America and every other country, saying  _"look what we can do!"_  Neither of those things was going to help him save Bucky.

"Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in."

Colonel Phillips turned on Steve with a mostly bored look. "You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo."

"The serum worked!" Steve protested.  _Again!,_ he screamed internally. 

"I asked for an army, and all I got was you.  _You_  are not enough." With that, the officer turned and walked away, taking Steve's hope with him. 

Steve raked an angry hand through his hair. "I am, Colonel. I will save this planet more times than you know!" he shouted at the older man's back. Peggy placed a hand on his shoulder and his deflated like the Hindenburg. He grit his teeth and turned to the man with the gray suit that he'd never bothered to learn the name of. "You want me to work for you?"

The guy looked taken aback for a moment before composing himself. "Yeah, I sure do. I think Colonel Phillips is miss-"

"Missing the point. Yeah, that's about the only thing we agree on."

"Steve," Peggy chastised but he ignored her.

"When do we leave?"

Steve used the USO tour to get overseas, like he'd done before, seeing as no one was going to let him go on his own merits. They hadn't seen him take down HYDRA yet. He hadn't proved himself. He fell into the routine like rain into a stream. He remembered every line of that god awful speech a hundred years later. When he told them he didn't need the note cards on the first night and then proceeded to recite them like a well-read children's book, the stage manager's mouth dropped open in shock. 

The tour had three shows in Italy before the one that changed everything the first time around. He was determined to get to Bucky before the 107th was captured and save Peggy a pep talk backstage about destiny. He couldn't save Erskine, but he was going to save his husband. 

After the first show, Steve changed out of his costume- he refused to call the thing a uniform- though he took the flimsy metal shield with him more out of habit than anything. He shucked some scrubs that looked like they'd fit from a box and threw them on. Out of his costume, no one paid him much attention. He was just another soldier waiting to fight. The army base was quiet, most of the men tired and too messed up to care about Captain America.

Just as the sun set, Steve slipped into the C.O.'s tent and grabbed the first set of keys he saw, hoping they'd fit the rugged old car outside. He sent up a thank you when they did and started it up. If someone heard it, he had to hurry, so he put the car into gear and peeled out of the base as fast as the vehicle could take him. He was further south than the first time he saved Bucky, at least a full day's drive. It would take every ounce of favor for him to get there in time. 

The long road gave him ample time to think- and overthink- every life choice he'd ever made. In 2043, he and Bucky finally had everything. They were happy; they were in love; they had a good team and a comfortable life. Even when bad guys threatened their world, they had each other at the end of the day. 

In 1943, they couldn't even touch in their own apartment building. The day Bucky was taken, the last time he saw him, Bucky withdrew from him, called them  _fairies._ He hadn't even known what he was missing the first time around, but now, he didn't want to go back to living in a world where loving Bucky was wrong. 

But if he could save Bucky from everything it took to get to that point, then he'd gladly do it. He'd pretend not to look at Bucky like a man he would one day marry. He would finally take Bucky's advice and settle down, find a nice girl. They both would. They'd get steady jobs now that Steve could stay on his feet for more than a few hours at a time, and Bucky wouldn't have to shell out for medication anymore. They could really make lives for themselves in  _this_  time, and Bucky would never know what it was like to lose Steve.

He hadn't realized night had fallen until he'd almost missed a turn in the road because it was so dark. He flicked the headlights on just in time to see a small boy in ragged clothes go running out into the road. Steve slammed on his breaks and the tires sent gravel flying out behind him, but he came to a stop just mere feet in front of the shaking child. 

Cap wrench open the car door and got out, heart beating faster than it did on most missions. "Are you okay, son? You shouldn't be out here alone at night. It's not safe." No sooner had he said it, then he felt the rough texture of rope around his neck. It said something about where his head was at that he didn't hear the multiple pairs of footsteps on the rocks. 

German soldiers were using kids as bait. The thought made Steve's ears go hot with rage. "It's past his bedtime," Steve scolded and tore the rope from his neck and out of their hands. He turned, ready to take out a few no good men, but found teenagers instead. They were in German military uniforms that were too big on them, hanging off their shoulders and dragging in the dirt. 

"Auf deinen Knien!"

It'd been a minute since Steve had had to use his German, but he was pretty sure that kid just ordered him to his knees. They had balls, he'd give them that. "Look, kids. You should stop this before someone gets hurt. Go home." He didn't want this to turn south and the kids to be collateral damage.

"Heil HYDRA!" the smaller teen yelled and the night lit up with the flash of gunfire as the children dropped to the ground to take cover. Steve took two at least before even his reflexes kicked in and reached in the car window to grab his own gun. He could feel the sting of a foreign object in his gut and his shoulder but he'd heal soon enough once he got them out. 

He hadn't been gifted with true night vision like Bucky had, but his enhanced sight gave away three men, fully grown at least, with weapons coming towards him. Steve picked off one, two, but got another bullet to the side before he could get the third. He bent over with a groan, hand clutching the already bleeding wound. The butt of the weapon came down on his other shoulder, making him fall to his knees. 

He swung his own gun out and sent the guy onto his back a few feet away but there was more than three and they were around him now. One lifted his gun and slammed the heavy butt of it against Steve's head twice, making his vision go black and his mind go blank as he fell to the ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo
> 
> P.s. I love that you guys are loving this story. I've written fanfiction for a while but I'm new to this particular fandom's style and I'm still working it out.


	13. 2043

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Avengers follow Loki's path and find exactly what they weren't looking for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki what have you done?

The New Avengers landed in the middle of the crowded sidewalk as discretely as they could- which was to say not at all. Vision let Shuri's feet touch the ground before letting her go, and the warrior princess pulled two circular Chakram's from her belt. Wanda lowered herself to the ground easily and felt the swirls of red dissipate from her fingers. Thor's cape settled as he touched the ground with more force than the rest of them had- always the show off. The people in their vicinity flinched back before recognizing them. Some reached out to touch them like they were zoo animals in an exhibit; some gave them a wide birth, knowing that where they were, trouble usually followed. 

Nothing looked out of the ordinary. They'd half expected something to be on fire, or for there to be space robots smashing through the mall's thick concrete. Then again, they would of heard something. It just felt so wrong for the demi god to have come, saw, and  _not_  conquered. Maybe Thor was right; maybe Loki had changed. 

If that were true, though, why had he taken Steve and Bucky?

"Wanda, filter through the employees recent memories for any sightings," Thor ordered. Wanda nodded and walked through the double glass sliding door to disappear into the packed mall. The AI turned to Shuri. "Go to the store we saw Loki entering and see what you can find."

"On it," she confirmed, stashing her weapons, and went into the mall as well.

Vision did a slow 360 from his position at the front doors. "I will check this area. Thor, go wider. See if you can find where he went when he left." Thor nodded and took off into the air. Vision had no idea what would be here that Loki would want. He saw nothing of particular interest in the area so he lifted himself into the air, his cape fluttering around him. When he was high enough to get a bird's eye view of the entire mall, he started picking through the courtyard and parking lot.

Wanda tried not to pry too deep as she walked slowly past display counters that Loki would've walked by on his way to the camera they caught him at. She kept her hands by her sides, but twirled a few fingers and let the memories of the nearest employee filter through her conscious. Nothing from the Chanel rep. A man in a black hoodie, but he was facing away, from the woman at the Sephora door. So many faces, but none of them Loki. 

Shuri tried not to call too much attention to herself, despite her famous face and the tight, breathable clothing she changed into in case they came face to face with the god of lies. She slipped through people, keeping her head down until she reached the store they'd caught Loki entering but not exiting.  _Barnes and Noble_. Loki was an intellect, they all knew, but books were very far down on the list of priorities when one was on the run. What could have possibly brought him there?

Thor kept his eyes sharp as he flew over the neighboring streets in search of any sign of his brother. The mall was in a populated area and obviously popular. People weren't only crowded around the parking lot, but throughout the city blocks surrounding it. Cars, old and new, were parked along the streets. A traffic cop stuck a ticket under the wiper of one of them. Eateries lined sections of road with the smells of food flowing up from their doors. 

Vision looked past the teenagers making out against the wall and the employee on a smoke break. There was a car parked in the furtherest row from the doors with empty spots on all sides. Vision hovered over it and scanned it, but it was registered to an employee of the mall that didn't get off until late that night. No other cars were out of place. There were bicycles, some locked, some stupidly left unlocked, in a rack. A scooter parked in a handicap- The bicycles. Vision went back to them and floated down to the touch the grass. He placed a hand on a red one, well-used but well taken care of, with an Avengers emblem engraved on the handlebar. He knew that bike.

Wanda huffed when a large man rammed into her on his way by, making her lose her connections to the Dior fragrance rep. She took a deep breath and when she looked back up the women was aware again and looking at her confusedly. Wanda lowered her head and turned away. 

"Hey," the woman called to her.

Wanda cursed herself and turned back. "Look, I didn't hurt you, I swear. I'm just looking for-"

"Spiderman, right?"

The mutant froze, but picked up the conversation quickly. "Have you seen him?"

"I think so. I mean, I'm a big fan, but you never really see pictures of him without the mask. If the forums are right and he's that cute guy with the brown hair, then yeah. I saw him."

She should have seen it before. They were in Queens after all. "Was he hurt?"

The woman looked at Wanda like she didn't understand. "What? No. He was fine. Angry looking, but we all have bad days."

"Where did he go?"

The woman pointed. "That way."

The same direction Loki had taken.

Shuri wandered through the aisles of books, drawn to the comic book section like she always was. She had grown fond of them the longer she was friends with Peter. He had implored her to read any issue he deemed 'essential'. She smiled as she ran her fingers over the plastic covers. She hadn't heard from Peter in nearly a week, and she had no idea if he was even in the US anymore.

She cursed when she caught her knee on the table that sat against the end of the aisle right next to a comfortable looking chair. In the chair was a familiar looking backpack- blue and brown with an Avengers keychain hanging from the zipper tab. He'd had to replace his backpacks when he was young at least every few months, but he always kept the same style. This was Peter's bag. 

Peter had been there.

Loki had been there.

Shuri turned and ran out of the store.

Thor landed on the roof of the one of the restaurants. He could feel his connection to Loki, to their seiðr, but it was faint and weak. He let it lead him still, and he walked along the edge of the roof until he got to the corner. Below him was an alleyway with a dumpster filled to the brim and in need of collection. There was a side door leading into the kitchen of the eatery next door. It ended with a brick wall that led to nowhere. 

On the ground was a pile of clothing. Thor hopped down off the building and walked to them. A red zip up jacket, a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt with the quirky phrase  _Come to the Math side, we have_ π. There was only one man he knew that would wear that particular item of clothing. 

Thor's comm buzzed to life the next second with Shuri's voice.  _"Guys, it's Peter! He came for-"_

_"I know. I found his bicycle,"_ Vision added.

_"I'm coming to the front doors right now. Do we know where they went?"_ Wanda questioned.

Thor dropped the clothes onto the ground again and looked at the brick wall. He pressed the tiny earpiece and said, "I do not know where they went, but I have found where they left from."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	14. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve finally gets to Bucky, but it's not how he pictured it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the '43 chapters when they were still young and not as fucked up.

Pain ricocheted up Steve's side. His head weighed about a million pounds, as did his eyes, but he forced his head up off the cold, hard surface and flickered open his lids. It was mostly dark, the room only lit by small lights on one end of the room. He cupped a hand to the sensitive areas on his right side where two of the bullets had lodged and felt electrodes attached to the already closed wounds. If his wounds were closed but not quite healed, that meant he'd been out for at least two days. 

Two days!

He was too late. They probably already had Bucky, had him tied down to some table while they injected him with things they thought would kill him. He'd worked  _so fucking hard_  and he was still too late. 

Steve felt rage ripple through him as he strained against the straps holding him to the table, just like the ones he was sure were holding Bucky at that moment. He didn't stop Bucky from being captured and getting the prototype serum, but he could still save his best friend from torture and death. Plus, maybe if he moved fast enough he could get another chance at taking down the Red Skull. 

It was a faint hope, and Steve knew it, but if he didn't hold on to something, he thought he might just let them both die and end it. 

The vicious thought left as soon as it came. He would never just  _let_  Bucky die. Himself, maybe, but never Bucky. He broke the straps with a moaning creak and a snap before rubbing away the headache at his temples. He needed to figure out where he was and how to get out of there. 

He looked around. Lab equipment. Vials. Glass containers. It was not unlike the dreams that haunted him at night sometimes. He pushed off the table and grabbed his shield from where it was thrown in the corner of the room. There was a helmet on the same table and he grabbed it, too. His body was sticky with sweat but the room was cold. He wondered what that meant happened during those two days. 

The hallway was deserted and barely lit. It was like this end of the facility was where people came to be forgotten. To die. 

With every step a foreboding feeling crept up Steve's spine. Something wasn't right. Moreover, something was very wrong. He rounded a corner and it hit him. He'd been here before. Dread washed over him and he felt a heavy weight crash down on his shoulders. It was like his body had gone numb; he couldn't walk straight, couldn't see straight. 

He came to a very familiar doorway and leaned heavily on it without stepping inside. The Captain dropped his head as he crumpled against the frame and closed his eyes. He'd been so close, within meters, for  _two days_  and he still didn't make it. It took every ounce of will to push back the despair threatening to overtake him and stand up, lift his head, and look into the room.

There he was. 

The sight made another wave of hopelessness crash into Steve, but he brushed it off because he was right there. His husband was laying lifeless on a metal slab and he'd be damn if Bucky spent another second there without him. He went to him and ripped the thick leather straps away with more force than necessary. Bucky only stirred the tiniest bit. Steve bent over him, the urge to kiss him awake like this was some child's fairy tale briefly crossed his mind, then it vanished when he saw the dark purple circles under Bucky's eyes and the hollow of his cheeks. 

"Buck," he whispered fervently. The Sergeant stirred, looked up at him. 

"Steve?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Bucky smiled lazily up at him and the blond almost didn't resist kissing him that time, but Bucky spoke before he could. "I had the weirdest dream."

Steve didn't want to hear about what they'd put in his head already. "Buck, we have to go."

"I dreamed," Bucky protested, holding tightly to Steve's arm, "that we were married." That made Steve paused and look down at his lover. "I dreamt that we were happy, that we had sex...a lot." A laughed bubbled up inside Steve's chest that felt completely inappropriate for the moment. "I dreamed you were big, and I was..." His voice feel away as he got a good look at Steve.

Steve took the lapse in Bucky's rambling to pull him off the table to stand. "I thought you were dead," the blond anguished.

Bucky placed a hand on Steve's broad chest. "I thought you were smaller." Then, he pushed back from Steve as his eyes went wide. "It wasn't a dream."

The Captain tried to smile, but it wouldn't take. He was sure his eyes were soft though. "I wasn't a dream, Buck." 

Looking around, Bucky took it all in. "Then, the rest wasn't a dream either, was it?"

That struck Steve right in the chest, but they didn't have time for that now. "We have to go, Bucky. I'm sorry. We can work it all out later." Steve grabbed the swaying man and ushered them both out of the room. 

"Later? I die later!" Bucky implored as they stumbled down the deserted hallway. Steve covered his mouth with a hand.

"You have to be quiet. I didn't do it like last time. There's no distraction, and we could be caught any second." When Bucky nodded, Steve released him.

The brunet squared his shoulders, ever the soldier, and started to run next to Steve. "Then let's make a distraction." Steve raised a brow. "I happen to remember some men on the lower level that would love to make a ruckus." A smile finally did spread on Steve's face then and they both took off toward the prison cells.

The place was exactly like Steve remembered it. Only this time he had Bucky by his side for this part. It felt almost more right this way. They both went around to each cell, unlocking cells with the stolen keys and freeing the men. 

Steve stopped over the one he knew he was looking for and peered down at the men that were once- would one day be?- his best friends. "Hey, guys."

"Who are you supposed to be?"

Steve wasn't in his uniform, but the shield was still in his hand and he guessed it look pretty ridiculous. "I'm Captain America," he informed them with a smirk. 

"I beg your pardon?"

The blond only shook his head and let the men out. They all looked at each other warily, and  the irony of the situation wasn't lost on Steve. These men would soon lay down their lives for one another. 

"We taking everybody?"

"I'm from Fresno, Ace."

An almost fond smile played on Steve's lips. "You can get to know each other later. Right now, I need you guys to get out of here and create as much chaos on the way out as you can."

Dum Dum nodded, pleased. "That, I can do. Lead the way," he waved out in front of them for Steve, but the blond shook his head.

"Bucky and I have something to do before we leave," Steve ignored the whispered,  _What the hell is a Bucky?_ , from Choi, "but you guys should head northwest towards the tree line, eighty yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell."

Gabe poked his head out from the group of men and questioned, always the worrier, "Wait. You know what you're doing?"

Steve vividly remembered this moment; it was like a dizzying round of deja vu. He held himself back from saying what he'd said last time. He couldn't believe he'd said it in the first place. Instead, he smiled at the men and offered, "I never know what I'm doing," before he ran off to find where Bucky had gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like old time. Oh wait, it is.
> 
> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	15. 2043

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little late. I've been preparing for my family vaca coming up and I'm back in school and working. Point is, don't hate me. Speaking of vacation, I'll be out of the country for this next week and I won't be posting a chapter. Please, be patient and I will be back. Love y'all!

All four of them were gathered around the brick wall at the back of the alley where Thor said there was still a trace of Loki's magic. Wanda had a palm pressed against the rough surface, trying to see where they'd gone. As she lowered her palm with a defeated sigh she said, "Why would he lead us here and then not tell us where they went?"

"He is not one to allow another's victory so easily," Thor reminded. "We are lucky he has given us this much."

Vision pressed his purple pointer finger to his temple, rubbing out an ensuing headache. "Why  _did_  he give us this? Why let himself be found in the mall? Why lead us to this wall?"

"He is much changed since you last met him, New Avengers. He is not the same Loki," Thor implored. "I do not believe he has taken the soldiers and the man of spiders of his own volition."

"So you said," Shuri countered, "but then who's making him do it, and why?"

"We're back to where we started," Wanda seethed. 

Vision's brow furrowed as he walked forward and placed a light hand on the wall. "Maybe not." 

Wanda stepped up behind him and laid comforting hands on his waist. "What is it?"

The AI shook his head and closed his eyes as he reached down and took one of his lover's hands. He pull her forward and place her hand next to his on the wall. "You may be able to sense where they've gone if I could open the portal again, right?"

"You can't open portals, Viz," Wanda reminded. 

Vision side-eyed her with a smirk. "I've never tried before."

"Let me help, friend," Thor offered. "My seiðr is element based, but it is strong." Vision nodded and the three of them pushed their hands against the wall. Thor and Vision focused on the spaces between the spaces. The atoms between the atoms, where time lived. They pried each atom open, one by one, to tear a hole in time itself and make a way.

"I guess I'll just," Shuri thumbed behind herself, "keep watch, then." She nodded to no one and then rolled her eyes before walking to the end of the alleyway to make sure no one came down that way. "I never thought I'd want to add magical powers to my plate," she murmured to herself. She tried to look casual in brightly-colored spandex with blades at her hips as she watched everyday people pass by with their grocery bags and shopping bags and purses and luggage. 

So much baggage for a people that wish for freedom, she mused. She turned back and called down the alley, "How's it going, guys?" No answer. "I'd totally help, but," she waved her very human hands in the air to show she had no supernatural abilities.

"You should not wish for things you do not understand." Shuri spun around and grabbed a chakram from her belt at the same moment, but Loki's two fingers were already pressed to her forehead and she slumped to the ground. 

 

Vision dropped his hand first, exhausted and resigned. "I thought I could." Wanda dropped her hand and let her inner fire burn out before rubbing Vision's shoulder. 

"It's okay. We'll find another way," she offered with a sad smile. "Hey, Shuri," she called as she rubbed a palm against Vision cheek, "let's get back to HQ and figure this out." Then, Thor was running and moments later Vision and Wanda followed him. Shuri was a motionless heap on the ground at the mouth of the alley. Thor got to her first and scooped her into his arms while the others crowded in after. Wanda pushed her disheveled braids back off her forehead. "Shuri? Hey, princess, wake up."

Shuri groaned and her eyes fluttered open. Everyone breath a sigh of relief. "What happened?" Thor questioned as he held her more firmly against himself.

"Loki," she huffed, disoriented but not weak. "He showed me..."

"He was here?" Vision asked. Shuri nodded, then abruptly stopped and groaned again. "What did he want?"

Shuri rubbed a hand down her face and blinked her eyes hard before opening them fully. "I'm fine," she said up to Thor worried face. "You can put me down."

"If you insist," the god of thunder acquiesced, but cautiously. He set her down lightly, one foot at a time. She wobbled, but grabbed the Asgardian's firm shoulder until she stood up straight.

"He showed me where he's keeping Peter," Shuri informed, to their collective disbelief. 

"Why would he do that?" Vision wondered.

"Why wouldn't he just leaved the portal open for us?" Wanda added.

Shuri just shrugged, then winced. "I don't know. I just know what he put in my head." She took a deep breath and bent down to pick up the weapon she'd dropped when she'd...dropped. "We have to go get him." But when she stood back up, her words lost their power as she swayed back against Thor, who caught her and stood her right.

"No way," Wanda argued. "You need to go home."

Shuri furrowed her brow angrily and shook her head, ignoring the black spots that resulted from it. "He's my best friend. I'm going to get him."

"All due respect, your highness, I think you in no condition to face my brother." Thor bent down and scooped her up one again. "I will bring you back to your home and you will rest. We will go find the man of spiders."

Shuri pushed away from him, hands on his immovable chest, but he didn't budge. Finally, she huffed, worn out, and curled up against him. "You can't find him without me. I'm the only one who knows where he is."

"You'd risk his life just to be the one to save it?" Vision countered, and it struck right where he'd aimed it. Shuri flinched but then shook her head. 

"Of course not. I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything as soon as I get a glass of water and a bed."

"Promptly, your highness," Thor teased and Shuri wrapped her arms around his neck while he curled one large around around her back and legs, the other spinning Mjölnir too fast to see before they lifted off the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sort of antsy for the NA to meet up with Loki. 
> 
> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	16. 1943

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a minutes. I had a great vacation and then right at the end I got so sick and it was Awful and I'm just getting to feeling better. School is ramping up for me so bare with me as we get to the end of this. 
> 
> Enjoy this weeks. It's a little bit cheeky, a little bit fluffy.

Steve found Bucky tampering with computers one floor up. He was erasing data and no doubt memorizing important details as he went. "Hey, Buck. We have to get out of here. Men will be here any minute now." Bucky only grunted and kept working. "We have to go," Steve urged.

"Not yet. I'm taking them down, Steve. I have to take them down," he murmured, half-focused. 

Steve couldn't pretend he didn't want to end it, right there, right then, but the last time they were here they barely made it out, and that was with a diversion. "Another time, Buck." He grabbed Bucky by the arm, but his husband held firm. "If you don't come on, I'll throw you over my shoulder. Don't test me."

Bucky scoffed and answered, "Don't threaten me with a good time, fella." Steve tamped down a smile and groaned, bending down and making good on his threat. Bucky yelped and pounded his fists against Steve's back, but Bucky only had a prototype of the serum in him by that point and he definitely didn't have a metal arm. "Steve, please! I have to end this!"

"Another time, Buck," Steve repeated, the sound drowned out by the alarms now ringing out. 

"That would be the self-destruct," Bucky informed him. "I told you, I'm ending this." 

Steve carried Bucky up to the metal bridges that led outside. The entire complex was eerily quiet. It made the hair on the back of Steve's neck stand on end. "Put me down," Bucky urged, and the way he said it, not defiant but urgent, had Steve complying. They shared a look around the empty space, both picking up on the spine-tingling feeling in the air. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

"Just the prop shield." Steve acknowledged the thing hanging from his free hand. "I woke up in here, same as you."

Bucky visibly balked at that, but it wasn't the time to go into it. Instead Bucky walked towards one of the unconscious guards to take his gun, but a syrupy voice stopped him. "Captain America, how exciting. I'm a fan of your films." 

Not five feet from him, Johann Schmidt emerged from the shadows. "Not this again," Bucky spat as he stood and back away from the imposing HYDRA leader, weaponless, and stood beside Steve. Around them, a small handful of soldiers emerged from the shadows as well.

"I see Dr. Erskine managed it after all."

"I'm very impressive, yes," Steve answered what he knew was coming. "Let's just skip all this and punch each other, okay?" Schmidt stood, mouth slightly gaping, at the Captain's brazen tone. Bucky only snickered. 

"Actually, I have no intention of fighting you. I know those sirens and what they mean, and I have work yet to be done."

Bucky took a step towards the man. "You're not getting out of here this time."

"This time?" Schmidt cocked his head. "Have we met?"

"Enough." Bucky tensed all the muscles in his body, ready to spring at the evil genius, but Steve's log of an arm slapped against his chest, halting him.

"I know who you are," Steve informed the HYDRA agent. "You can take off the mask."

"Or don't. I'd rather you didn't," Bucky chimed in.

Schmidt laughed, a dark, hollow sound, and peeled off the fake skin covering the sunken, crimson skeleton underneath. "No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see-"

"Greatest success, yeah, yeah," Bucky droned. "God, this isn't nearly as fun the second time around."

"It was fun the first time?" Steve questioned, and they both held back a hysterical giggle out of respect of the circumstance- life and death and all.

"Quiet! You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier-"

"Wow! It's really like he doesn't know he's going to say it," Bucky awed.

Steve elbowed his partner. "He doesn't." Then he focused on Schmidt. "Look, you could say we've been there, done that. All I'm looking to do is beat you up a bit, and leave you in here to burn with the rest of this place."

"Ditto," Bucky chimed in. Before Schmidt could add anything else, Bucky launched himself at the Red Skull and took them both to the ground. Steve sighed at Bucky's ever-present lack of survival instinct and lunged at the soldiers who started firing.. Steve brought the shield down on the back of one's head, making the German fall off the bridge. He grabbed the gun from his hands as he fell and took out the others with quick efficiency. 

He walked over to where Schmidt had Bucky pinned and pressed the barrel to the Skull's head. Schmidt smiled down at Bucky so eerily, the Sergeant winced. Johann kicked a leg out backwards towards Steve, taking the Captain's legs out from under him and bringing them all to even ground. 

Bucky swung an arm around but the punch landed squarely on metal when the Red Skull rolled out of reach. Steve tried to reach for the gun that had slid just out of range, and when he couldn't get it he reached for the Red Skull and barely grabbed him by the ankle, pulling him back in. He climbed over him and rained punches down on every open place he could find while Bucky covered the Skull's mouth and nose with a hand. Steve moved a hand up to clench around his throat.

"Oh, god, it's soft and hard at the same time," the Sergeant complained of the German's facial texture. When Schmidt went still, both men pulled their hands away and stood up. "We did it," Bucky gasped. An explosion echoed the brunet's wonder.

"And now we have to go," Steve concurred. He grabbed Bucky's wrist and tugged him away from the still body of their captor and foe. They ran towards the door they knew would lead them out, and found the entire complex overrun by Allied soldiers. As they joined the men on the ground, the men they would one day- had at one point- been brothers with, Steve couldn't help but bask in their victory. They'd finally changed things. Bucky had destroyed HYDRA's computer network, set the prison to explode, and they'd killed Johann Schmidt. 

They would never fight him again, Bucky would never fall and never be experimented on, and they'd both survive. Live maybe. A flood of joy rushed through Steve's veins, and right in the middle of the fighting, surrounded by soldiers- friend and enemy- the blond pulled Bucky against him and pressed their mouths together forcefully. Bucky hummed in surprise but melted into the kiss instantly, wrapping an arm around Steve's broad shoulders. They lost themselves for just a moment, and they weren't in the heart of enemy territory, they were back home in their bed on their day off. 

A timid clearing of a throat made them pull apart but not more than a few inches. They looked over to see Dum Dum with a raised brow. "Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen, but there's a war on and we need to scram. Now."

Bucky dipped in for one last peck before letting Steve go and taking the offered weapon from the man in the bowler cap. "Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh*
> 
> I love them.
> 
> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo


	17. 1943

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Steve make it back to camp and finally have a moment together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even explain the crazy that has been my life recently, but I love these two so it's nice to escape to their world for a little bit.
> 
> Enjoy

The newly reassembled Howling Commandos just coming over the hill at the entrance of the nearest ally camp- which happened to be the one near the northern border of Italy where'd he heard the news about Bucky's unit the first time. The rest of the company had made it there by then, including Colonel Phillips and Peg. They'd been greeted by shock at first, followed by cheers and nearly every cigarette in the place. 

Steve allowed Peggy to look him up and down, remembered that the first time he'd done this, they'd gone back to her tent and taken a roll under the thin blanket. He hadn't known about Bucky then, he hadn't realized. This time, he gave the brunette bombshell a polite nod and pulled Bucky away. They needed a minute alone.

Once safely a good distance from the crowd being welcomed back and tended to, Steve pushed Bucky against the back of a tree and pressed their lips together. The Sergeant moaned into it and flung his arms around Steve's neck. Steve allowed the moment to stretch out, to enjoy having his man safe and sound. When he couldn't stamp down his emotions anymore, he pulled away, breathing hard.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Bucky smirked, running his fingers through Steve's grimy hair. "You can't get rid of me that easy, pal."

"I'm serious, Buck. I thought I was too late." The Captain saw a flurry of emotion pass across Bucky's face, but when he didn't say anything, Steve pressed, "What is it?"

Bucky fixed his face back to something neutral and smiled. "Nothing."

"Tell me."

It looked like Bucky was definitely about to protest again, so Steve gave him that look- the one that always had Bucky confessing- and the soldier sighed. "You were, sort of."

"What do you mean?" Steve began lightly running his hands over his husband's body, checking for some fatal wound he'd missed.

"No, not like that. I'm fine." He paused then added, "I think."

"Buck, be straight with me already."

A dirty smile crept across the brunet's face. "Couldn't if I tried, Stevie. You're just too darn cute."

Steve punched his shoulder. "Not the time! Now, tell me."

Bucky's smile fell but he continued. "I feel the same as I did last time. It's all foggy like it was last time. I wasn't sure if all the bad stuff was a dream the first time, but now I know it was."

The words felt like ice in Steve's veins. "All that stuff they did to you before, it happened again?" Bucky lowered his eyes to the soggy grass and nodded. "Shit. I saw you in there, but I thought maybe..." 

"I'm okay," Bucky tried to assure. "Really, I mean the original experiments were nothing compared to- you know."

Steve took a disconcerting step back from the other man, pure dread clear on his face. "That's not the point, Buck. The only reason I could possibly think of for coming back here- the only thing that could make this all worth it was to save you! I couldn't even do that."

Bucky grabbed Steve by the shoulders and shook him. "Steve, breathe." He didn't yell but his voice was powerful, the same kind Steve had used on him a million times during after the bad dreams. "Look at me." The blond reluctantly raised his gaze and found soft blue eyes. "I'm here. I'm okay."

That seemed to crumble Steve's resolve and he buried his face in Bucky's neck and cried. "Why are we here, Buck?"

"I have no idea, but we have to figure it out if we ever want to go home."

Steve peeled himself from his lover and wiped his eyes hastily. "You want to go home?"

"I was thinking about it, and I can't believe I acted the way I did back at the apartment. People have spent decades fighting and dying so I don't have to act like a douche to make up for loving my best friend. We were married in 2043. We were free." Bucky cupped Steve's chin and rubbed the rough pad of his thumb across Steve's bottom lip. "The whole walk home I just wanted to pin you down and bite those lips, but I couldn't." He shrugged. "I don't want to live like that again."

Steve opened his lips and bit down on the tip of Bucky's thumb teasingly. "You know, the first time I didn't even know- god, I was so dumb. But now, I get it. I just want to have you in my arms all the time just because I can't. It's nauseating."

"Welcome to my world," Bucky quipped and leaned back against the tree and crossed his arms. "So, the Commandos are still here I see."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, right where I left 'em." They shared a laugh; laughing because their closest friends were locked in inhumane cages once again would seem cruel to anyone but them, because they knew- they knew what it was to be locked up, to be help captive, and they were free now so it was moot. "It's so weird, everything is happening exactly like it did before."

"Not everything."

They both smiled wide. "That red bastard is gone. Finally!" Steve cheered and threw his arms out wide. Bucky laughed happily, joining him with his arms stretched out, and  _whoop_ 'd. 

"You're welcome, S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Bucky crowed to the grey sky and Steve twined his arms around Bucky's waist, kissing his cheek.

"To what does S.H.I.E.L.D. owe their gratitude?"

Both men looked to the new voice, still wrapped together. I took them a long second to realize what year it was, and that they weren't out- even to themselves. They snapped apart like they'd been burned and Steve started shaking his head. "We're just fooling around, Peg."

Peggy lifted a brow. "I see that. You didn't answer my question."

Bucky, very brazenly, draped an arm over Steve's shoulders and leaned into him. "We killed Schmidt for you."

Then, both of Peggy's brows went up. "Is that right? Colonel Phillips will be glad to hear it. You boys will be heroes." 

The two men looked at each other and pressed smiles down. "Heroes," Steve echoed.

"Great heroes," Bucky supplemented.

"Super heroes," Steve concluded with barely concealed glee. 

"Superheroes. I like it."

"What are you two up to?" Peggy mused. "Did anything else happen at that base?"

They both eyed her uneasily. "What do you mean?" Bucky asked.

Peggy flicked her eyes to Bucky's fingers that had dipped beneath Steve's collar and back up to Bucky's glowing azure eyes. "Anything new. Or maybe not so new."

Bucky raised his own brow. "Hmm, I'm not sure what you me-"

"Peg, please, don't say anything," Steve interrupted. "We know you're a smart woman so it's best not to try to lie to you. Please, don't say anything."

The men were frozen, tense, for what seemed like years while Peggy assessed them. Finally she crossed her arms across her chest and tilted her head. "Woman. Not dame? Babe? Doll?" Steve shook his head quickly. "Something is different about you, Steve. I can't place it, but you two aren't like most men."

"Is that good?" Bucky asked.

"Good enough to have me keeping secret from my boss, yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS! MWAH!! Xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://purpleeyestelllies.tumblr.com/)


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